Elephant
Elephant is the largest of ail animals living and the strongest. It is a strange looking animal with its thick legs, huge sides and back, large hanging ears, small tail, little eyes, long white tusks and above all, its long nose, called the trunk. The trunk is the elephants peculiar feature, and it puts it to various uses. lt draws up water by its trunk and can squirt it all over its body like a shower-bath with it, and it picks leaves from the trees and put them into its mouth. In fact its trunk serves the elephant as a long arm and hand. Elephants lock very clumsy and heavy and yet they can move very quickly when they like.
Elephants are found wild in India and in Africa. The African elephant differs in some points from the Indian being larger, with longer tusks and bigger ears. In fact the two are considered to be different species.
In both countries, they live in herds in the jungles and are naturally shy animals that keep away from men. Elephants, with their great size and strength, are fine advertisement for vegetarianism, for they live entirely on Leaves of trees, grass, roots and bulbs.
The elephant is a very intelligent animal and its intelligence combined with its great strength makes it when tamed a very useful servant to men and it has been trained to serve in various ways.
Elephants can carry heavy loads and they are used to draw heavy wagons and big guns. They are very skill in pile up timber. The trained elephant will kneel down, lift a heavy log of wood with its tusks carry it to the place where it is wanted and lay it exactly in position.
Elephants were also trained for tiger hunting. The huntsmen will sit in the howdah on the elephant’s back and the hunters were carried through the thickest jungles and at such a height that they could see and fire at the tiger when it was driven out. In old days elephants were used in battle and all Indian Maharajas had their regiment of trained fighting elephants. Elephants are used in temples, processions and festivals.
African elephants are killed for their tusks which are very valuable. Ordinary bullet cannot pierce through the elephant’s skin.
Many elephants are caught alive to be tamed and trained. But catching elephants is a dangerous task for elephant is a very dangerous enemy.
